<p>which explains your lack of ECs. im from singapore</p>
<p>well im aiming for unis like carnegie mellon, rice, georgetown , duke etc. so how does EC play a part in these schools? i understand that ECs play a huge role in HYPS but how about these "best of the rest" schools</p>
<p>Colleges know about it. Don't worry--but I mean, do you honestly do nothing but study? Even if you do come from Singapore, they want students who don't just study all day. Colleges will probably expect you to do something else for fun.</p>
<p>Im in National Cadet Corps (military-style kind of EC) about 10 hours per week or so, i also won the outstanding cadet award </p>
<p>im also in Student Council, i heard that Student Council/Government in US is not that demanding compared to those in Singapore ( I may be wrong ). In Singapore schools, the Student Council plans everything and does everything, right from the ushering of important guests, planning of major events, school events etc.</p>
<p>i dont know how it works in US but here, it is not easy to maintain many ECs.. there are some who can do 6 to 10 ECs but generally its very very hard..</p>
<p>i plan to join a youth political group (youth section of the country's leading political party since our independence) and learn 1 or 2 foreign languages</p>
<p>well, i just want to have an idea of what being well-rounded is like</p>
<p>i dont know if this is enough to show that im well-rounded but i do not want to commit too much to ECs until the point that my studies suffer( rigourous education system :()</p>
<p>Okay, so at least you're doing something--that's great. They won't compare a student from Singapore to someone in the U.S. when it comes to extracurriculars.</p>
<p>yup im trying very hard to get myself involved into ECs right now. Okay, for once, i thought that my list of ECs had to match those huge lists of Americans. Btw, im just curious but am i really dreaming too much of going to schools like carnegie mellon, rice, georgetown , duke, brown , dartmouth , williams, amherst?</p>
<p>well i noe hyps is a far far far shot for me so im trying to aim a bit lower:)</p>
<p>if it doesnt go my way , then perhaps i'll try to go for uk unis where ECs arent an issue</p>
<p>It depends on grades and stuff. But I'm not asking you to put down all your test scores and grades. Just keep doing what you're doing. I'm sure you're fine.</p>
<p>Don't sweat your ECs. The obsession with ECs is a peculiar US cultural phenomenon. You do not have to turn yourself into a clone of what you imagine a US HS student is. You just have to be a good international candidate. Believe me, the colleges/universities here know the difference! They want you to be YOURSELF so that you bring some true diversity to the college/university environment.</p>